City Hall of Tilburg 2.08

The City Hall of Tilburg or Palace-Council House is a former royal palace and presently a part of Tilburg city hall in the Netherlands. Construction of the palace was commissioned by King William II of the Netherlands, who placed the cornerstone on 13 August 1847. The king wanted to have a country residence in Tilburg. He never lived in the palace as he died on 17 March 1849, just 22 days before completion of the palace.The palace was built by contractor and carpenter Adriaan Goijaerts from Tilburg. On 7 July 1847 Goijaerts accepted the commission from William II of the Netherlands for the sum of ƒ 57,000. Goijaerts completed the palace on 7 April 1849.The palace has been rebuilt thoroughly twice, in 1865 and from 1934 to 1936, to give the palace a different purpose. The palace has been used as a school and as city hall of the municipality Tilburg. The school offered secular tuition on high school level. Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh was the school’s most famous student.In 1931 the palace was donated to Tilburg municipality by the Dutch royal family. During world war II the palace was used as an observation post for detecting allied aeroplanes. The palace lost its main function in 1971 when a much larger and more modern building was completed. This building is connected to the palace through a sky bridge at the north side of the palace. Since then the Palace is mostly used as a location for wedding ceremonies, lectures, oath-takings and symposia.